California Legislature Expected To Vote on Budget; Details Unclear
Today, California legislators will likely vote on a budget proposal to address the state's deficit, but details on the vote are not readily available, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Aides to Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said the Assembly would vote on a $17 billion package including both spending cuts and tax increases but declined to provide specifics.
Earlier this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) offered a budget proposal that included calls for new revenue as well as cuts to state spending, including the elimination of dental benefits for adult Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program (Yamamura, Sacramento Bee, 11/25).
Bass spoke out against the proposed cuts to health and human services programs (California Healthline, 11/7).
On Monday, incoming Democratic Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg (Sacramento) said that Republican and Democratic lawmakers had not yet reached an agreement on a budget package (Myers, "Capital Notes," KQED, 11/24).
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